Public safety tax increase? Flint voters will have to decide

Brett Carlsen | MLive.com file photoFlint detectives and Michigan State Police forensics investigate the scene of a double homicide on West Dayton Street on Aug. 5.

FLINT, MI -- Some Flint residents say they can't afford to pay an additional 6 mills on their property taxes for police and fire services -- others say they can't afford not to.

In a city struggling under the weight of both high unemployment and high crime, voters will have a major-league decision on their hands in November when they head to the polls to consider a 6-mill property tax that was ordered onto the ballot by former emergency manager Michael Brown in his final days in office.

If approved by voters, the increase would cost the owner of a home with $20,000 in taxable value an extra $120 a year -- a hard pill to swallow on top of other fee and rate increases ordered earlier this year by the emergency manager, some said.

"It's a lot, but if they're really going to use it for police and fire, then it's worth it," said Flint resident Havell Hinton as he walked downtown Friday afternoon.

Hinton said he's "pretty sure" he's going to support the five-year millage, which is "for the sole purpose of providing police and fire protection," according to the ballot language.

For the past 23 years that he's lived in Flint, the crime in his neighborhood has steadily increased, he said.

"I know people who have been affected by crime," said Hinton, 58, who's retired. "As for me, I just bought me a new steel door. I used to have a regular one, but I had to make the change for security."

The millage would generate an estimated $5.38 million in the first year,
enough to pay the wages and benefits for about 53 police officers and firefighters, officials said.

Police Chief Alvern Lock said the millage could allow the city to
increase the number of police officers and firefighters on the streets if the city can maintain its current revenues.

"If the voters say yes, we can
possibly add to the police and fire departments," Lock said. "That's the goal anyway. I don't know the
configuration yet so I can't give specific numbers."

Genesee County Clerk Michael Carr, who oversees elections in the county, said the 6-mill proposal is the largest increase he can recall ever seeing on a ballot in Flint or any other Genesee County community. Carr was first elected clerk in 1976.

The tax proposal has Flint resident Jeremy Ross on the fence. The southside resident said the city "desperately needs" funds to boost its police and fire forces, but hesitates when asked whether he can afford it.

"Everybody's hurting right now," he said.

Ross, 35, said Flint needs a more comprehensive solution that includes attracting more jobs and anti-drug programs to help people fight addiction, a contributor to both petty and serious crimes, he said.

"We got to have jobs, though," he said. "We need help from the government to help Flint out. You can't just do a tax. We're already hurting."

Trent Farnsworth, president of the Flint firefighters' union, said he's in favor of a millage increase for public safety if he can be assured that the city's police officers and firefighters will be the ones providing the service.

He's concerned the state might try to initiate a consolidation of police and fire departments, similar to initiatives proposed in Bay City and other cash-strapped cities, which he feels could jeopardize his members' jobs and public safety.

"I want the public to be covered," he said. "I'm completely receptive to more dialogue. Public safety is not
something we want to have (ballot) language in the gray area. Who's
going to do it? There's no question that we want our police and fire to do it."

Brown, who was Flint's state-appointed emergency manager but is now city administrator, signed off on the millage proposal on Tuesday.

The millage was one of more 60 actions Brown took in his last week in office. The state replaced Brown with former Flint emergency financial manager Ed Kurtz on Wednesday, when a referendum of Public Act 4 was certified for the ballot and the law was suspended.

State officials said the emergency manager law's previous version, Public Act 72, was revived until voters have their say on Public Act 4 in November. But Brown isn't eligible to be emergency manager under Public Act 72 because of a clause that prevents people who worked for the city within the past five years from holding the office.

Brown says the millage would reduce the city's dependency on grants
from foundations and the federal government to pay for police and fire
services.

The city issued layoff notices to 32 firefighters earlier this summer because it wasn't sure a federal grant would be renewed. The grant was eventually awarded in May and the layoffs were rescinded.

"We have a need for a stable number of police officers and firefighters," he said.

Lock said he knows it won't be easy to convince people the public safety tax is needed, but from where he stands, it's necessary. The city was No. 1 in the nation for violent crime in 2011, according to FBI statistics.

Voters in May 2011 shot down a 2-mill proposal for the jail, but Lock
contends that this millage for police and fire services is a separate
issue altogether.

"I don't think it's going to be as hard as some might think it is," he said of asking voters to approve the millage. "There's a lot of people out there who agree with us that
we need to maintain the police and fire departments."

Scott Kincaid, president of the Flint City Council, said the council is looking into whether or not it can fight the emergency manager's decision to put the millage on the ballot. Kincaid said he won't support the millage because he doesn't think the residents can afford it.

He said he would have preferred to see Brown work with the state on increasing Flint's state-shared revenue, which has been cut by nearly $5 million over the past five years.